70% of Catalans believe that the Government should aspire to a more ambitious financing model that, at least, would end the fiscal deficit, and the one that raises the most preferences is that of an economic concert similar to that of the Basque Country and Navarre. One in three Catalans opt for this option, according to an omnibus survey carried out by the Center for Opinion Studies (CEO) of the Generalitat.
The survey raises four response options to a question about which option the Government should prioritize in relation to the financing of Catalonia: ending the fiscal deficit, concert, sovereignty and the current system.
The second option preferred by the Catalan population (19%) is a model of economic and tax sovereignty. Another 18% believe that the Government should prioritize ending the fiscal deficit. Finally, 8% defend the current financing model and 22% lack a formed opinion on the matter.
The economic concert is the financing model preferred by a majority of supporters of En Comú Podem (46%), Esquerra (42%), JxCAT (41%), PSC (40%) and also the PP (31%). Among supporters of VOX and Ciutadans, the preferred financing option is to end the fiscal deficit (48% and 25% respectively). Economic sovereignty is the preferred option for supporters of the CUP (49%).
On the other hand, four out of ten Catalans believe that the State has excessively centralized the distribution of European recovery funds.
In this sense, more than half of Catalans (55%) are in favor of the Generalitat having more decision-making power in the distribution of funds. One in five Catalans considers that the State has not centralized much, and 10% would give less decision-making power to the Generalitat, while 21% do not have a formed opinion.
The survey was carried out between June 14 and July 11, 2022 by the company SigmaDos with a sample of 1,200 people aged 18 or over, residing in Catalonia.
The survey also asks about the official nature of Catalan in the institutions of the European Union. Six out of ten people surveyed agree (32%) or strongly agree (28%) with it, while 26% disagree or strongly disagree.
By language, eight out of ten Catalan speakers (82%) agree or strongly agree that Catalan is official in the EU. Seven out of ten bilingual people (69%) and half of Spanish-speakers (50%) are also in favor of making Catalan official in Europe. This support drops to 44% among those people who have other languages as their own.
By parties, support for this issue is almost unanimous among Junts (98%) and CUP (95%) supporters, and a very large majority among ERC (88%) and common (79%) supporters. Almost half of the supporters of the PSC are in favor (47%), 37% are against and 15% do not take a position. 35% of supporters of the PP and 33% of those of Ciudadanos agree or strongly agree with the fact that Catalan is official in Europe and only 12% of VOX supporters agree.
